Police Facilitate Artificial Calm on Temple Mount

Rabbi Chaim Richman, 01/07/14 12:07

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צילום: ערוץ 7

Rabbi Chaim Richman

Rabbi Chaim Richman is the director of the international department of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. For over three decades the Temple Institute has been dedicated to every aspect of the Biblical commandment to build the Holy Temple. Through its research and educational programming, the Institute seeks to highlight the universal significance of the Holy Temple as a house of peace and prayer for all nations. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Temple-Institute Twitter: https://twitter.com/TempleInstitute @templeinstitute...

British Home Secretary, the Rt Honourable Theresa May, on the Temple Mount.

Tuesday, July 1st: The Temple Mount was closed today to Muslim women and to Muslim men under the age of thirty five. In addition, police stood guard outside the al Aqsa mosque in order to prevent stone throwing from Muslim "worshipers" inside the mosque.

For the first time in weeks, Jews who ascended the Temple Mount were not subjected to the screaming taunts and outrageous gestures performed by hordes of Muslim men, women and children. Nor were they subjected to shoes or stones being thrown at them. Can this sudden change in policy be attributed to a new-found desire by the police to facilitate a more peaceful atmosphere for Jewish worshipers on the Temple Mount?

The answer is no: The preemptive clampdown on the Muslim lynch mobs which have been roaming the Temple Mount freely as of late, tormenting Jewish worshipers as police stand impotently by, was taken to ensure a quiet visit for the British Home Secretary, the Rt Honourable Theresa May.

The British Home Secretary's visit to the Mount was posted on various Arabic language social media this morning, suggesting that Theresa May's visit was at the behest of the Muslims and not the Israeli government. It would seem that the Muslim Waqf wanted to ensure a quiet, non-eventful visit for the Home Secretary, and requested the Israeli police to impose strict limitations on Muslim entry to the Temple Mount.

All this serves to prove that when there's a will there's a way. In this case it was the will of the Waqf to ensure peace and quiet on the Mount.

It is time to demand of the government of Israel to exhibit the will to ensure peace and quiet every day in order to facilitate free and uninhibited Jewish prayer and worship on the Temple Mount.